Similarly, Lord Kṛṣṇa Himself says in the Bhagavad-gītā (Chapter 10) that He is the Aśvattha tree, fire, Śrīla Vyāsadeva, Arjuna, and so on. These facts have also been firmly substantiated. To perfectly comprehend the absolute pastimes of the absolute Supreme Godhead is impossible through any of the "isms," such as empiricism, impersonalism, or sophism. Only by the Lord's mercy can one fathom the Supreme Godhead. That same Supreme Personality benignly reveals the truth about Himself in the Bhagavad-gītā. This text is the essence of all the Vedic scriptures and is the synthesis of all conflicting "isms." Lord Caitanya is the unchallenged spiritual stalwart who propagated the process of surrender to Kṛṣṇa, the conclusion of all the Bhagavad-gītā's teachings. Those who follow in His footsteps are the real yogīs and devotees.
Synthesis
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Srimad-Bhagavatam
SB Canto 3
Consciousness is the sign of the living entity, or the soul. The existence of the soul is manifest in the form of consciousness, called jñāna-śakti. The total consciousness is that of the gigantic virāṭ-rūpa, and the same consciousness is exhibited in individual persons. The activity of consciousness is performed through the air of life, which is of ten divisions. The airs of life are called prāṇa, apāna, udāna, vyāna and samāna and are also differently qualified as nāga, kūrma, kṛkara, devadatta and dhanañjaya. The consciousness of the soul becomes polluted by the material atmosphere, and thus various activities are exhibited in the false ego of bodily identification. These various activities are described in Bhagavad-gītā (2.41) as bahu-śākhā hy anantāś ca buddhayo 'vyavasāyinām. The conditioned soul is bewildered into various activities for want of pure consciousness. In pure consciousness the activity is one. The consciousness of the individual soul becomes one with the supreme consciousness when there is complete synthesis between the two.
Other Books by Srila Prabhupada
Renunciation Through Wisdom
Sri Isopanisad
Except for the madhyama-adhikārī and uttama-adhikārī discussed above, no one can correctly see the spiritual position of a living being. The living entities are qualitatively one with the Supreme Lord, just as the sparks of a fire are qualitatively one with the fire. Yet sparks are not fire as far as quantity is concerned, for the quantity of heat and light present in the sparks is not equal to that in fire. The mahā-bhāgavata, the great devotee, sees oneness in the sense that he sees everything as the energy of the Supreme Lord. Since there is no difference between the energy and the energetic, there is the sense of oneness. Although from the analytical point of view heat and light are different from fire, there is no meaning to the word "fire" without heat and light. In synthesis, therefore, heat, light and fire are the same.
Lectures
Philosophy Discussions
Śyāmasundara: A posteriori means after; sense impressions. So he developed this process for attaining knowledge in three steps. The first step he calls he transcendental aesthetic, and this is the basic stage which synthesizes sense experience through concepts of time and space. In other words, the mind acts upon sensory perceptions and applies time and space relations to them. So he says that this knowing of time and space is a priori; it's an internal creation of the mind. Before we sense anything, we have an idea of time and space. So as soon as we sense something, we can apply time and space ideas.
Prabhupāda: He said something transcendental?
Śyāmasundara: He calls it the transcendental aesthetic.
Prabhupāda: Transcendental means it is not in my experience, but I get the experience from higher authority, paramparā.
Prabhupāda: Yes. By intellectual speculation one may get some hint, but not perfect knowledge.
Śyāmasundara: He says, for instance, that this pure reason or this transcendental reason is there to guide man to an understanding of wider knowledge, to guide his understanding to knowledge, and that the aim of this pure reason is to find the totality of synthesis, in other words, to understand everything. By knowing the ultimate reality, one will understand everything.
Prabhupāda: So simply by understanding that he is spirit, gradually he understands that there is a spiritual world. This spiritual world is full of varieties. Everything is there, exactly like this, but that is eternal and this is temporary.
Śyāmasundara: So he says that this is a natural impulse, that it is the nature of reason itself to find regularity, a total regularity, for everything. So that it must suppose that there is a Supreme Being in order to find that total synthesis.
Prabhupāda: So in your preaching you can use this Kant's statement, how he is confirming the statement of Bhagavad-gītā. Bhagavad-gītā directly says and he as a philosopher has found out that this is a fact. So this may help in our preaching work.
Śyāmasundara: He says that phenomena are so endless that it is impossible to arrive at ultimate reality by the reason alone, because there are certain what he calls transcendental illusions.
Prabhupāda: Therefore you have to take Kṛṣṇa's assertion. I am puzzled with these varieties of phenomenal changes, and you cannot understand how these things are being done. But as soon as you come to Kṛṣṇa, He says that "I am behind this. I am doing it." Then your conclusion is perfect.
Śyāmasundara: So today we're discussing the philosopher Hegel, a German philosopher. His basic method is that he wants to synthesize all opposites to arrive at the truth and by doing so his conclusion was that everything that exists is reason, whatever exists is reason, whatever is real is rational, whatever is rational is real.
Prabhupāda: So, that means he wants to arrive at the absolute, that there is no duality. That is Kṛṣṇa. That is Kṛṣṇa. Because Kṛṣṇa says that His mission is to protect the devotees, paritrāṇāya sādhūnāṁ vināśāya ca duṣkṛtām (BG 4.8). And killing the demons. Kṛṣṇa actually did it. Just like He killed the Pūtanā, the great giant Pūtanā. Superficially he killed, but she got salvation exactly like His mother. Kṛṣṇa gave Pūtanā a position like His Mother Yaśodā. Then, what is the difference between loving Yaśodā and killing Pūtanā? Because He is absolute, whatever He does, it is good. God is good. So superficially you may see, "Now God is doing bad," but it is not bad, it is good. Therefore two opposing, viruddhatta samanvaya(?), the Sanskrit word is viruddhata samanvaya(?). Coinciding two opposing elements, and that He can do. Therefore if he comes to Kṛṣṇa, he becomes Kṛṣṇa conscious, he surrenders to Kṛṣṇa, then his philosophical aim will be fulfilled.
Śyāmasundara: Well, just like...
Prabhupāda: Logic, dialectic, this and that, this and that. What is the meaning of dialectic?
Śyāmasundara: Well, just like he divides it into three parts, the triad...
Prabhupāda: Well, let him do that, but dialectic, what does it mean?
Śyāmasundara: It means the synthesis of two opposing elements, like if you have...
Prabhupāda: Yes, yes, I understand.
Śyāmasundara: ...the thesis, the antithesis and the synthesis.
Prabhupāda: Mm. That is means argument. You say something, I say something, and then you come to conclusion.
Śyāmasundara: Reconciliation.
Prabhupāda: That's it. Conclusion is there, what is called? Premises, premises, (indistinct) are called premises. Man is mortal. Mr. John is a man, therefore John is mortal.
Śyāmasundara: No, but that's the Aristotelian process, he rejects Aristotle's process.
Prabhupāda: He may reject Aristotle's process, that is..., the real thing is like that, that by your scanty reason, you come to this conclusion, in that (indistinct).
Śyāmasundara: His process would be more like: man is immortal. The antithesis is that man is not immortal. So then the synthesis would be the combination, the resolution of those two.
Prabhupāda: What is that synthesis?
Śyāmasundara: The synthesis would be perhaps that man's body is mortal and he's immortal.
Prabhupāda: Perhaps. There is no certainty.
Śyāmasundara: Man's body is mortal and he's immortal.
Prabhupāda: What is this conclusion?
Śyāmasundara: I'm only using it as an example. You said that... You gave a proposal that man is immortal, that John is a man, therefore John is immortal. That's Aristotelian logic, Aristotle's logic.
Prabhupāda: That means his business is to defeat Aristotle's philosophy.
Śyāmasundara: That is being. So the antithesis of that is that man is mortal, or nothing; so how to reconcile those two is...
Prabhupāda: The reconcile is the body is nothing and the spirit is something. This is synthesis. This is our proposal. The body is nothing, false, but I am real. But those who have no knowledge, they are taking one side. But we are taking two sides: this body is there, this is false, but it is temporary. Although I say I'm not this body, if somebody knocks me I feel pain. So this is temporary. Mātrā sparśās tu kaunteya śītoṣṇa-sukha-duḥkha-dāḥ (BG 2.14). Due to this body, I am feeling pains and pleasures. So the Buddha philosophy is you make this body nil, then there is no pains and pleasures. But that is imperfect. Because I am there, I will accept another body. So that, death does not mean liberation. Death does not mean liberation. Tathā dehāntara-prāptir. You have to accept another body. Liberation means when you are no more in this material world, you go back to spiritual world, that is liberation.
Śyāmasundara: His idea is that this constant struggle between being and non-being is what makes the world go round.
Prabhupāda: That is also our proposition. That the spirit: yayedaṁ dhāryate jagat (BG 7.5). Therefore we are talking of two energies, the superior energy and the inferior energy.
Śyāmasundara: What is the synthesis?
Prabhupāda: The synthesis is that the superior energy, because it has accepted this material energy, therefore the material world's energy is working. Because I have entered into this body, therefore the body's material, it has no movement, but because I am within this body, it is moving. As soon as I shall go away, then this body is a lump of matter.
Śyāmasundara: He says this dialectic, basic dialectic between being and nothing is the basis of becoming, that because these two things are always conflicting, we are always becoming.
Prabhupāda: Becoming, that's... Therefore, the question becoming means I am now in this awkward position, that I am eternal and immortal but I have been entrapped by something which is mortal, therefore I am changing my position. So when I shall stop this taking of different position, I shall remain in my own being, that is the (synthesis).
Śyāmasundara: Exoteric.
Prabhupāda: So, but Kṛṣṇa says, na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20). Although the body is not mortal, still the proprietor of the body is immortal. Na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20).
Śyāmasundara: So that's a combination of thesis and antithesis into synthesis.
Prabhupāda: Yes. So when we perfectly come to that position then you become synthesis.
Śyāmasundara: That's what Hegel is trying to find out, that ultimate synthesis.
Prabhupāda: He has to find out that he has no knowledge to find out; he has to take knowledge from us. We can help him.
Śyāmasundara: So the synthesis transcends their separate beings.
Prabhupāda: Eh?
Śyāmasundara: The synthesis transcends their separate beings.
Prabhupāda: Separate means mortal and immortal.
Śyāmasundara: The combination is higher than both of them.
Prabhupāda: Avināśi tu tad viddhi yena sarvam idaṁ tatam.
Śyāmasundara: Then what is the synthesis?
Prabhupāda: Synthesis is to get out, the soul, from this awkward position of matter.
Śyāmasundara: Is that a higher understanding than understanding the soul by itself?
Prabhupāda: Yes, when soul is liberated, that is higher understanding. The soul should be liberated. He is in awkward position within this material world. He is in awkward position.
Śyāmasundara: Does the condition of being entrapped, enhance the understanding of liberation?
Prabhupāda: Yes, unless one understands that he is entrapped, there is no question of liberation. If he's in ignorance that this is the real life... Just like ordinary man, they think this is real life but we are giving education, "No, this is not real life. The real life is Kṛṣṇa consciousness."
Prabhupāda: And every religion means connection with God.
Śyāmasundara: But he says that the highest form that the Absolute manifests itself, the highest mode, is in philosophy. He says that this combines art and religion and it synthesizes them so it is highest, philosophy.
Prabhupāda: Philosophy means that there is some order of God. Just like God says "Thou shall not kill." Now if you want to kill, then you must present your philosophy why you are killing, why you are violating the order of God, or why you are accepting the order of God. This is philosophy, not dry speculation.
Śyāmasundara: He says that philosophy is highest because it can...
Prabhupāda: It is highest. But now God says, "Thou shalt not kill." Then you stop killing. That's all right, be religious but did you understand?
Śyāmasundara: Oh, why I (indistinct).
Prabhupāda: Why I shall not kill. That is philosophy. Jñāna, vijñānam(?). Just like devotee, he accept Kṛṣṇa or God, that's all right. He's also devotee but one understands actually what is Kṛṣṇa, therefore he is very dear devotee. Madhyama-adhikārī. He is kaniṣṭha-adhikārī, the lowest stage of devotee. He's as good as the other devotees. He does not like to... Just like gopīs, they are not philosophers and they're, neither they knew that Kṛṣṇa is God, but they loved Kṛṣṇa, that is highest. Without any consideration. Caitanya Mahāprabhu, "Whatever you may be, I love you."
Śyāmasundara: Yes. That stands refuted.
Devotee: As Hegel presents Christianity.
Śyāmasundara: He says that the Holy Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Ghost, is just like his philosophy of thesis, antithesis and synthesis. So he says, "Therefore it is perfect."
Prabhupāda: He may think it. Everyone thinks that way, (that) his philosophy is perfect.
Śyāmasundara: He says that even higher than religion is philosophy because you can approach God through pure concept or thought, pure thought, and reach God.
Prabhupāda: Therefore Bhāgavata, Bhagavad-gītā is combination of religion and philosophical thought.
Śyāmasundara: He says that philosophy, knowledge of the absolute idea is unique because it is in and for itself, or is pure idea, that philosophy is pure idea.
Prabhupāda: That we say, that religion without philosophy is sentiment and philosophy without religion is mental speculation.
Śyāmasundara: Hegel's idea is that there is idea, then there is substance but the synthesis is spirit. Spirit combines both idea and substance.
Prabhupāda: Yes, but spirit is, according to our philosophy, the spirit is realized in three phases, brahmeti paramātmeti bhagavān iti śabdyate (SB 1.2.11). The supreme spirit is realized in three phases. An example is given, just like you see from a distant place the mountain, you see just like a hazy cloud. You go forward, you will see something, substance, green, and if you enter it you'll see so many trees, so many animals. So you are seeing the same object but according to your understanding, somebody is saying, "Oh, it is a cloud." Somebody is saying, "It is some green (indistinct)," and somebody is saying, "No, it is very nice place." It is a question of where he is standing, to understand God. So those who are standing in distant place, for them imperson. Just like we are seeing the sunshine imperson, and the sun globe localized, and if you have got capacity to enter into the sun globe, you'll see sun god. Similarly, God is realized in three capacities, brahmeti paramātmeti bhagavān iti śabdyate (SB 1.2.11). Either impersonal Brahman, or localized Paramātmā, or the Supreme Personality of Godhead. But if you somehow or other approach the Supreme Personality of Godhead, it is Kṛṣṇa.
Prabhupāda: Yes, he gets idea: "Yes, there is a building like that, you can do that." For man there cannot be anything, invention. He can say "discovered", there is nothing invented.
Śyāmasundara: So he says that these two things are opposing, idea and substance, they are thesis and antithesis but the spirit contains both of them so it is the synthesis.
Prabhupāda: Yes. That we agree. Viruddha (Sanskrit), viruddha, contradictory thing can be adjusted in Kṛṣṇa. Because what is viruddha, opposite, that is also coming from Kṛṣṇa, and what is substance, that is also coming from Kṛṣṇa. We are thinking viruddha. Just like this same example, cooler and heater. They are opposite but they are coming from electricity. Therefore in electricity power, both can be adjusted(?). You can say, "Electricity can be cooler, electricity can be heater." That is called viruddha (Sanskrit). Contradictory things adjusted in Kṛṣṇa. Inconceivable, therefore we say inconceivable. Simultaneously one and different. That is our philosophy. Simultaneously we are all equal, one with God, and different. In our..., this material world, it is impossible to think like that, therefore it is called inconceivable.
Śyāmasundara: Just like when we were discussing Hegel, Hegel's belief was everything was synthetic, that it..., for every thesis there was an antithesis, and each combining made a synthesis, so that all things were related and all things combined together were the world. But his idea is the opposite—that everything is separated, everything is individual.
Prabhupāda: Yes. Separated, but there is sympathy. It is not separated abrupt. There is sympathy. Just like here, all our students, they are individual, separately, but there is (indistinct) sympathy, that every one of you are learning Kṛṣṇa consciousness. That is sympathy. Even though you are all separated, you have got your individual opinions, still there is a sympathy in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Otherwise what is the use of this assembly unless there is sympathy? (aside:) What you say, Dr. Rao?
Dr. Rao: (indistinct)
Prabhupāda: What your science says?
Dr. Rao: Science says that matter is composed of atoms; atoms, in turn, they are composed of the smaller particles like electrons, protons, neutrons and so on. And now scientists, they have found out that these smaller particles, they are also composed of still smaller particles. So there is no end to it. I mean...
Prabhupāda: Then what about the bigger? So what is smaller, but then what about the bigger? (laughter)
Śyāmasundara: This Fichte actually comes to that conclusion because he borrows from Kant and develops this idea of the dialectic that there's thesis, the antithesis and it becomes combined in synthesis. He puts forward the idea that the ego, the subjective identity that the thesis has given and opposing that is the antithesis or material nature. Just like my body is the antithesis of my ego, so it is non-ego. So he says ego, non-ego, there's a continuous struggle.
Prabhupāda: When I think that I am this body, that is false ego. That is false ego. Because I am not this body. So those who are falsely identifying this body, (indistinct) they're animals. They're (indistinct).
Śyāmasundara: So he sees that the world is made up of a combination of continuous struggle of dialectic between the opposing elements of ego and non-ego. My subjective identity and the objective world are continually locked in struggle, endlessly, and this is the way things are going on.
Prabhupāda: Not endlessly, but if you understand that you are not this body, then this ignorance is ended, immediately. So you cannot say it is endless.
Hayagrīva: Here is his conclusion and the last point. He says, "The whole effect of positive worship will be to make men free...," excuse me, "The whole effect of positive worship will be to make men feel clearly how far superior in every respect in the synthesis founded on the love of humanity to that founded on the love of God." In other words, love of mankind is superior to love of, of God, or what is known as God.
Prabhupāda: The humanity, love of humanity means to raise the humanity to the real understanding of the goal of life. If the humanity or the whole human society kept into darkness as to what is the goal of life, that is not serving humanity, to keep them in darkness. But to enlighten them with knowledge, the ultimate knowledge is understanding of God and our relationship with God and activities in that relationship, that is real humanitarian work. Otherwise, if we keep the humanity in darkness, only within the jurisdiction of eating, sleeping, mating, and defending, or that is, that means to keep them in, in the animal atmosphere. But to teach the humanity about real knowledge, that he is not this body, he is soul, the soul is within the body and the nature of the soul, the necessity of the soul, the goal of soul—these things, if actually taken into hand to enlighten the humanity—that is real service to the humanity. And to keep them in darkness in the animal propensities, that is no service to the humanity.
Conversations and Morning Walks
1974 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: So that existed temporarily. Now it is gone. That will not appeal. (French)
Yogeśvara: In other words, what he's suggesting is that that's not actually an argument because the important thing is that there were times, at different times, different people have come and have attempted or have actually represented the public sentiment. They have become the epitome or resume' or synthesis of the public sentiment at a particular period. In other words, he's saying the great reform..., the great preachers, they've always been representatives of people; instead of being representatives of Kṛṣṇa, or God, they've been the representatives of the people.
Prabhupāda: The people's representative is different from God's representative. (French)
Yogeśvara: He says that "Well, that's a belief." You have to believe that. He said that's only a belief.
Prabhupāda: No, people change according to the time, circumstances, they change. Their opinion has no value. We don't give any value to the people's opinion. We give value to the Supreme Being's opinion. (French)
Yogeśvara: He says that that's dangerous because then we run the risk of having people who say, "Well, I represent the word of God. I can give you the true interpretation of the word of God, and they're actually only interested personal, private interests..."
Prabhupāda: No, if... If people... Not all. If there is actually opinion of God, if one man says the same opinion, then how others can say that "You all not giving God's opinion." God said, Kṛṣṇa said, that "You surrender to Me," and if I say that "You surrender to God," then how I am deviating from God's instruction?
1975 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: No, what is the name of the group?
Hṛdayānanda: The Great Yoga Fraternity, or The Great Universal Brotherhood.
Prabhupāda: So what is the purpose of this yoga?
(Hṛdayānanda translates for the guests)
Hṛdayānanda: They want to make a synthesis of all the best practices of different cultures to present it to the people so they can have understanding without prejudice.
Prabhupāda: No, prejudice is different thing, but what is the science?
Guest (Hṛdayānanda): He said the basis of the movement is to get knowledge through the use of their faculties in order to raise the consciousness.
Prabhupāda: To which platform the consciousness?
Guest (Hṛdayānanda): He said that they do not feel that they can go very high. They feel that they are in the hands of the great spiritual masters such as yourself and others also.
Prabhupāda: So do they aim to go to the highest point?
Guest (Hṛdayānanda): They feel the highest point is to understand themselves and...
Prabhupāda: So has he understood himself?
Guest (Hṛdayānanda): He said that to a certain extent he feels he has achieved this, but that the reality is unlimited, it cannot be described and that it's more a certain consciousness or appreciation of life that is beyond words.
Prabhupāda: Not clear understanding.
Harikeśa: So the antithesis would be there is no...
Prabhupāda: The antithesis will be how to become uncovered. That is antithesis. And the synthesis will be that because we are unable to uncover immediately, therefore must be some synthesis.
Harikeśa: Oh, I never thought of it that way. That's...
Prabhupāda: This is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. The synthesis of the covering and the thesis of the soul should be synthesized by arrangement. That we are teaching.
Harikeśa: Dialectical spiritualism.
Prabhupāda: Ye.... Not dia.... Dialectical means keep spiritualism or materialism. It is dialectic. Two sides there are, the material and the spiritual. These ignorant rascals, cats—and dogslike men, they have no information of the thing which is covered. They're simply dealing with the covering. Therefore their knowledge is imperfect, and they're not successful by so many theses. They do not know the real problem. Who is enjoyer? That they do not know. That enjoyer is covered. And they are talking on the cover. That.... In Bengal, it is a proverb, said, that: Sobraniye tanatan.(?) In the.... I think I was talking on this. In the coconut. The coconut sweet pulp and water is within. And they are struggling with the fibers above the coconut. Coconut.... They have got some information coconut is enjoyable, but where is the enjoyable article is there, that they do not know. They have simply information this body, and the coconut's body is covered with fibers. And they are fighting with the fibers. None of these so-called capitalists or, what is called, Communists, they do not know where is the real substance is. Superficially, they are fighting on the platform of fiber covering. That's all.
Prabhupāda: He can say: "Here is gold. You dig here. Here is the gold mine." Then you get gold mine. And one who is not expert, simply he has understood that "In this area, there is gold mine," and they are simply fighting; everyone has come to take the gold. But without expert knowledge, they're simply fighting. They do not find gold. That is the position. So expert knowledge is Kṛṣṇa. He therefore begins: dehino 'smin yathā dehe kaumāraṁ yauvanaṁ jarā (BG 2.13). Within this body, the living force, that is the soul. Because that soul is there, it is changing body, different. Try to understand that active principle. And where is that understanding? They simply putting different theses. They do not, neither do they know antithesis or synthesis. So our.... We know the thesis, antithesis and synthesis, that this soul, living entity, is within this body. Now the body is important so long the soul is there. Otherwise, body is a lump of matter. So the soul is suffering. He's seeking after enjoyment, but he's suffering. So therefore.... The most prominent suffering is death. That he cannot avoid. Or he's not.... The so-called materialistic scientists, they have not been able, neither they do know, who is the sufferer or enjoyer. They take this body. The same fiber platform. So actually they are rascals. What is the value of the thesis, antithesis?
Harikeśa: So actually everything.... All the arguments they bring up is simply the material thesis. There is no antithesis 'cause.... Just like hot and cold. Hot is...
Prabhupāda: No. They're seeking—the same example—the enjoyable thing, on the platform of shell of the coconut, fibers of the coconut. They do not know that within the shell, within the fiber, there is coconut. That they do not know. You said two sides. But they do not know the other side. They only know the one side, the body. There will be synthesis when there are two. But they have no two. They simply one subject matter, the body, and that is useless struggle. It is just like Māyāvādīs. Neti neti: "Not this, not this. Not this, not this." Therefore they advocate revolution, that something is going on for some days; again revolution. That means "Not this." Neti neti. The experiment says.... Experiment. Everyone is doing that. They are trying to derive happiness through some system or idea of adjustment, but it becomes spoiled and useless after some time. Therefore they say another revolution required.
Harikeśa: You've already done it.
Prabhupāda: I've done with a few selected men. Now it has to be spread. We have to face bigger field. Then it will be nice. Hm? Thesis, antithesis and synthesis. This is good. This is scientific method. So, so what is that thesis? That thesis is given by Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa gave the thesis: asmin dehe, the proprietor of the body is there. Within this body.... This is thesis.
Harikeśa: Actually though, the, the thesis in Engel's philosophy would start off with the present existence, the present reality.
Prabhupāda: Eh?
Harikeśa: It starts with the present, what is now presently existing, and then the...
Prabhupāda: Well, presently or.... That is another foolishness. The, the body and the moving active principle is eternally existing. It is not that formerly the body did not stop acting. It is dead. Study the whole history of human beings, any being—the death is always there. Then what is modern effort? Birth, death, old age, disease. They're always existing. Why do they say "modern"? This is eternal fact. Why they should say it is modern?
Harikeśa: Well, it's the present culmination of synthesis and antithesis.
Harikeśa: Well, it's the present culmination of synthesis and antithesis.
Prabhupāda: No, no, no. That is their imperfect knowledge. They do not know. What is thesis, what is antithesis, and the synthesis, they do not know. As philosophers, they have found out the three things. But so far the solution of the problem of human society.... You cannot solve the problems of animals' society. That is not possible. So this thesis can be understood by human beings. The animals cannot understand it, that within this body the soul is there. On account of presence of the soul, everything is going on, bodily affair. This thesis cannot be understood by the animals. So if you cannot understand, then you are also animal, although you are two-legged. So what is the value of your thesis, antithesis? You are animal.
Harikeśa: I think a thesis, it would be described in the dictionary as a proposition.
Prabhupāda: Yes. Who can give proposition unless one is human being? The dog cannot give proposition. The animal cannot give proposition. So who is giving this proposition throughout the Western world, that within this body there is the real person? Who understands this? Therefore they're all animals. What is the value of their so-called philosophy? What do you think? Yasyātmā buddhiḥ kunāpe tri-dhātuke (SB 10.84.13). If he's in the bodily concept of life, then he remains animal. What is the value of his thesis? Now here is the thesis. Now antithesis is also there. Actually we are trying to adjust. Only society. The thesis is the soul. The antithesis is the body. And synthesis is how to adjust the body and soul so that the soul be benefited from this entanglement.
Harikeśa: ...and then wondering why.
Prabhupāda: Yes. He does not know that "I was imperfect, thief. Therefore I have put into jail." So we can face any philosopher. But I can give you ideas. You can write some small articles. Let them solve these thesis, antithesis and synthesis. They, they accept this thesis, antithesis?
Harikeśa: Oh, yeah.
Prabhupāda: Put them.
Harikeśa: And actually it's, it works very nicely because the thesis doesn't have to be accepted as a fact in the beginning.
Prabhupāda: That's all right. But discuss on.... That is dialectic. Complete discussion. That is wanted. That we want.
Harikeśa: So now if they're actually interested in the scientific method, they must accept our thesis for discussion.
Prabhupāda: Yes. Dialectic.
Harikeśa: And then they can put...
Prabhupāda: They have accepted dialectic. They.... Marx says that this should be the conclusion of materialism: ultimately the worker shall enjoy.
Harikeśa: So the third step in science means to see the fact and make the idea according to the fact.
Prabhupāda: Yes. That is real science.
Harikeśa: So his method is the method of speculation.
Prabhupāda: That's all.
Harikeśa: First, there's the idea; the second, there's the real fact; and the third, there's the synthesis between the two.
Prabhupāda: They're all theories. The same experiment. To find out who is my father.
Harikeśa: All these guys are very dry.
Prabhupāda: It has no meaning.
Harikeśa: There's just talking. No value whatsoever. You can't even argue nicely with these men. They're just...
Prabhupāda: Yes, you cannot argue with dogs.
Harikeśa: Waste of time. They'll simply keep on barking.
Prabhupāda: But we can place our, what is called, facts, as we learn from Kṛṣṇa, and try to defend it. That is argument.
1976 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: Manyamāna, manyamāna. He is thinking he is very intelligent.
Acyutānanda: While he was saying that, I was thinking, "I hope I never have him for a judge."
Prabhupāda: You'll find everywhere such.
Acyutānanda: Ultimately he was saying, "It is not Kṛṣṇa or this. It is some 'something.' That is the reality."
Keśavalāl Trivedi: He was thinking that he was bringing about some synthesization.
Acyutānanda: Yes.
Keśavalāl Trivedi: And that he was bringing...
Prabhupāda: (break) ...with this land also? No. (break) ...this building?
Mahāmṣa: I think it is a school, Prabhupāda.
Prabhupāda: Oh. (break) He does not know. He does not say that "certainly school." "It may be."
Harikeśa: Well, if I'm convinced it's a school, it's a school. I mean, the only thing that really matters is my perception of that thing.
Prabhupāda: You learn from him that it is school. Before that, you did not know. Therefore you have to learn. That experience is valuable, when you learn it.
Prabhupāda: No, that I.... That I admit. But one thing is that you practically see the cow is eating dry grass and giving you full of vitamins milk. So that does not mean that dry grass is the cause of vitamins? Otherwise you could eat also the dry grass instead of purchasing vitamin pills. Your country is very much fond of vitamin pills. You eat grass. Why you are after vitamin pills? Hm? Saurabha Prabhu? You can take vitamin pills with grass?
Dharmādhyakṣa: Śrīla Prabhupāda, we saw a science film in Stanford, and one process of protein synthesis they called "The Magic Factor."
Prabhupāda: Again, that cau...
Dharmādhyakṣa: They didn't...
Prabhupāda: Chance. Magic is also a chance.
Dharmādhyakṣa: So that must have been the Kṛṣṇa factor.
Guru-kṛpā: Everything else but Kṛṣṇa. Magic.
Prabhupāda: (break) You see the tree, coconut tree, the hard nut and the water. Now, according to scientific idea, there must be pipe, there must be pumping and there must be water. Then you can raise the water. But where is such, such things? How the water is coming?
Guru dāsa: Thesis and antithesis, and then synthesis.
Dr. Patel: Yes, yes.
Guru dāsa: But it's a false philosophy.
Dr. Patel: I mean Hegel did try to improve upon Karl Marx. Really material is important. When the person dies why the body should rot? They every day see.
Guru dāsa: Prabhupāda pointed out the other day that when someone dies, we have all the bodily fluids there, all the organs. Why can't we put it together and make life again?
Dr. Patel: That's right. So now they have started reading all these, our books. They will now make amendment on it. As you said, they will thesis, synthesis. The present practice of communism in Russia is much more diluted than what it was twenty, thirty years back.
Prabhupāda: It should be.
Dr. Patel: And it will be like India after twenty years.
Guru dāsa: The result is that the biggest problem in Russia is that no one comes to work-absenteeism.
Dr. Patel: That will be here also. I have been to Ceylon, sir. And in Colombo they are giving free ration to the people. I mean, the rice.
Prabhupāda: There is a story in Bengal. (Bengali) The woman had seven sons. The mother requested first son, "My dear boy, now I am going to die. Take me to the Ganges side." He said, "Why? You have got so many other sons, why you are requesting me?"
Prabhupāda: Just see how perfect. How perfect it is. (laughs) Pūrṇam idaṁ pūrṇāt pūrṇam udacyate (Īśopaniṣad, Invocation). Because the direction is coming from the pūrṇam, complete, so correction is made and everything is done, everything nicely. Because the direction is coming from the complete perfect, there cannot be any mistake. That's it.
Svarūpa Dāmodara: So this is actually the first step of protein synthesis. In order to make proteins, this messenger RNA has to be transcribed from this DNA molecule. In the next step you'll see the final step for protein synthesis. Now there are also RNA's—they are called transfer RNA, those white-colored, white and yellow-colored things. (laughter) Each of them has to bring a specific amino acid, coded to a specific code, three base codes, base pair. Now each of them has to bring a specific amino acid and to put it together in a very specific manner. They cannot scramble. Because if it scrambles there's not going to be...
Prabhupāda: Again mistake, again mistake.
Svarūpa Dāmodara: Yes. So it cannot happen.
Prabhupāda: Just rightly. So much direction is there, perfect.
Svarūpa Dāmodara: Yes. So like that, then, when the..., once they bring these amino acids one by one, then they stick together, and that also process is done by enzymes. There are so many steps involved, and very intricate. It is actually done by a catalyst called enzymes. Enzymes are also very big molecules, actually they are also proteins, and in each step the enzymes are so specific that they do only one specific function just for the right purpose, and once this is done then slowly the protein separates at the right time and with the proper length and proper number of amino acids. In this way, actually we can prove in every case that...
Prabhupāda: Perfect direction.
1977 Conversations and Morning Walks
Svarūpa Dāmodara: In principle they can make all chemicals in the egg.
Prabhupāda: No, no, they can make, but...
Svarūpa Dāmodara: But they don't make life.
Prabhupāda: If you see... You can do everything, but at the end it is failure.
Svarūpa Dāmodara: Yes. The chemical composition of the egg can be synthesized.
Prabhupāda: That's all right. I say that you do it, and make it egg-shaped, and now we have... What is called? Incubator?
Svarūpa Dāmodara: Incubation.
Prabhupāda: Incubation, and get. Why take the egg from the chicken?
Svarūpa Dāmodara: They can make the chemicals, but life cannot come out of that.
Prabhupāda: Then why do you say that life comes from chemicals? Why do you make this false propaganda? That is our protest. You cannot do, it and still you make false propaganda.
Prabhupāda: Then why do you say that life comes from chemicals? Why do you make this false propaganda? That is our protest. You cannot do, it and still you make false propaganda.
Svarūpa Dāmodara: In principle... Last month in December, this Khorana... He's from M.I.T., the Indian who got Nobel Prize a few years ago. He's one of the big scientists in this, called, molecular biology. Actually he synthesized this code gene, one of the small fragments of... They're called DNA molecule. It's supposed to be the molecule for all living systems. So the promise was about ten years ago...
Prabhupāda: Again promise. That promise we don't want.
Svarūpa Dāmodara: No, the promise was about ten years ago that once they synthesized this gene, complete synthesis, then they'll be able to make life...
Prabhupāda: "They will be." Again promise.
Svarūpa Dāmodara: ...in the test tube. But it's not working. They have synthesized now.
Prabhupāda: Then why do you talk nonsense if it is not working? Therefore you are nonsense.
Svarūpa Dāmodara: Then in 1828 this German chemist whose name is Frederick Muller, he synthesized, it is called urea. Urea is a chemical that comes out of urine. It's normally in urine from..., called inorganic compounds. So he announced that there's nothing strange about the organic world that happens in the living system. So from that time onwards they thought that life can be studied in terms of chemistry. But it is already 150 years since that theory but nothing happened. Nothing's understood.
Prabhupāda: That I have already discussed, that from orange tree you can get that acid, citric acid?
Svarūpa Dāmodara: Citric acid.
Prabhupāda: But from citric acid, you cannot get orange tree. That is not possible. A living tree can produce citric acid chemical, but citric acid cannot produce a living... Therefore chemical comes from living being, not the living being comes from the chemical. This is the conclusion.
Svarūpa Dāmodara: Now we are in a better position because this Khorana, he just synthesized this gene last month. So now, with the synthesis of this gene, nothing is happening. Because this is what they thought: once they synthesize this, they will be able to understand life in terms of chemistry. But nothing is understood, though it has been synthesized.
Prabhupāda: Failure.
Prabhupāda: They like?
Svarūpa Dāmodara: Oh, yes. They are very hopeful that this is the only thing that we can give to the world. Personally I talked with the man who synthesized this DIN molecule, the DNA part. We were invited to M.I.T. for honors there, and they showed us the whole lab. And the fifth floor, the whole floor, belonged to this professor. So I was taken in all the secret rooms, saw what they are doing, and I was just acting as a scientist, so they told me all the secrets that they were doing. So I was very satisfied that they...
Prabhupāda: They received well.
Svarūpa Dāmodara: Yes. Well and... It was actually the Indian who arranged this group, from the Federal Government, United States.
Prabhupāda: You gave him good reception?
Svarūpa Dāmodara: Yes, good reception.
Prabhupāda: Hm. So what is your news?
Harikeśa: Everything's going on, Prabhupāda. The Russian book is now a textbook.
Prabhupāda: Hm?
Harikeśa: The Russian booklet, Russian Easy Journey, is now being used as a textbook in the Catholic university in Lublin(?) by one professor. They liked the Russian so much and they liked the subject matter so much, they're using it in the school. (Prabhupāda chuckles)
Prabhupāda: And your Kṛṣṇa is... Present now scientifically. They'll not receive?
Prabhupāda: Very good. Their false propaganda... (pause) (break) Scientists, they should seriously charge for the prestige of their Vedic knowledge. "Yes, my... Yes, sir, you are stating." What is this nonsense? "You are creating some rascals? Yes, my lord." In the name of education.
Svarūpa Dāmodara: I made an advertisement in M.I.T. saying that... Korana is the man who synthesized this gene... They thought that might life. So I was putting in an M.I.T. newspaper in the campus, saying that "Korana's gene is not life, and virus is not life. These are all molecules. They have nothing to do with life." So we have a lecture coming up next month, July 10th, in the M.I.T. campus, so three of us are going to speak on life coming from life. Because this is an M.I.T. campus, so there'll be many people from his group coming, because it is directly challenging the biggest group in the United States about this...
Prabhupāda: So do they accept?
Svarūpa Dāmodara: Yeah, and some Indians are on our side, specially this Indian Student's Association, and also there is an association called Indian Association for Greater Boston. The president and the secretary came to me, and they are supporting us.
Prabhupāda: That's nice.
Prabhupāda: God kicks on your mouth. He doesn't require to take your creation. Without your creation He can do everything. God kicks on your mouth with shoes, talkative nonsense. Tell him like that.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: I'm sure Haṁsadūta did. Next we'll read his... He says, "Are these two men aware of the success of Shree Lankan scientist Dr. Cyril..."
Prabhupāda: Who cares for this scientist?
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: "The Nobel Prize-winner in synthesizing amino acids..."
Prabhupāda: Nobel Prize-winner, another rascal has given him a Nobel Prize. He's a rascal; another rascal has given. Suri sākṣī mātāla.(?) In the liquor house the witness is the drunkard. What is value of the witness of a drunkard? Do you know suri sākṣī mātāla? There is some incident within the liquor shop, and the proprietor of the liquor shop has brought some witnesses. All of them are drunkards. (laughter) So what is value of this? Suri sākṣī mātāla. As soon as you are drunkard, immediately they are rejected. Surā dekhi nā saya nā.(?) The proprietor of the liquor shop has no more witness than the drunkard.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: He says here that "These great Nobel Prize-winners have made protoplasm from inert substances simulating the conditions that prevailed in the primitive atmosphere of the earth. Do they know that human egg and sperm cells can be fertilized in test tubes and the fetus developed in an artificial womb or in the womb of a hired woman? Among animals that evolved on this planet..."
Prabhupāda: So what is the benefit? There are millions of wombs. Why you should hire? If there is scarcity of womb, then we can hire. You rascal, you hire. You do not know. We see, without hiring there are millions of wombs, and they are producing.
Prabhupāda: No, no. Your atomic energy, what benefit has done to the people?
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: A real rākṣasa. Here's Haṁsadūta's reply to him. "Reply to Dr. Kovoor's article: Before going into the main body of my article, which I..., a transcript of a lecture I delivered at Sarasvatī Hall on July 29th before an audience of approximately one thousand respectable gentry of Colombo, and where Dr. Kovoor also happened to be present and was subsequently challenged but failed to defend his position that life is generated by chance chemical combination, I would briefly like to point out the apparent defects in his article. It is not beyond Kovoor's power of observation. First of all, it should be pointed out that Dr. Kovoor has done exactly what I predicted he would do in my last article, namely swamp the reader with a deluge of word jugglery in order to avoid the main point in question, which is, If life is generated by chance biochemical combination, as the scientists claim, then if given the said chemicals, can the scientist Kovoor make the chemicals come to life? Instead of answering this point, he has cleverly written that 'Scientists have created over ten elements, such a fermium, plutonium, serium, einsteinium, etc.' But elements are a far cry from living beings. He says that Dr. Cyril Pannamperuma and Dr. Bal Gobind Khorana, Nobel Prize-winners..." Incidentally, this Mr. Nobel was the inventor of dynamite, and he is giving Peace Prizes. Absurd to say the least. He's famous for inventing dynamite and he's giving the Peace Prize. As you said, drunkards. He says, "Those Nobel Prize-winners have synthesized the building blocks of living protoplasm. So if this is a fact, then why Dr. Kovoor has not met the challenge and created life with the said building blocks of amino acids? My challenge still stands: Create life from chemicals. As for incubating a baby in a test tube..." (break) "...required to produce that baby in the test tube cannot be created by the so-called scientists. So what is their credit if they produce a baby in a test tube? God is already producing millions of babies daily in nature's test tube, the womb of a woman. Kovoor's statement that scientists are objective thinkers and base their thoughts on empirical knowledge only, goes to prove my point that the soul lies beyond the jurisdiction of the limited senses of the scientists, and therefore a completely different process of approach has to be adopted."
Prabhupāda: So Haṁsadūta has become famous now.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: All the people there will support Haṁsadūta. Naturally they won't support such a rascal. (pause) (whispering in background)
Prabhupāda: This argument is called Pretitio Principial logic. You can see the dictionary, what is the meaning, pretitio.
Correspondence
1947 to 1965 Correspondence
1. In the midst of his multifarious duties, Gandhiji never missed to attend to his ramdhun kirtana meeting. This is one of the soundest method for the culture of devotion to God. In the opinion of Srimad-Bhagavatam, one who is imbibed with the devotion of Godhead is also endowed with all the good qualities of the gods. But one who is not a devotee of Godhead, has not any value for his good qualities because he utilizes his so called good qualities for ulterior purposes. As such the easy way to raise the moral standard of people in general, is to make this sankirtana movement more popular all over the world by philosophical discourses based on reasoning and moral and ethical codes. The Vaisnava acaryas especially Lord Caitanya and his six Gosvami disciples give us ample opportunity and scope for this work. Lord Caitanya first inaugurated the sankirtana or randhun movement and the later Gosvamis supported it by scholarly philosophical synthesis. The six sandarbhas by Srila Jiva Goswami are marvelous in this respect.
| Page Title: | Synthesis |
| Compiler: | Visnu Murti, Mayapur |
| Created: | 16 of Mar, 2012 |
| Totals by Section: | BG=0, SB=1, CC=0, OB=2, Lec=17, Con=20, Let=1 |
| No. of Quotes: | 41 |